Last week we wrote about the decision by Judge Fred Myers dismissing the application by Adrienne Havercroft and James Sutton seeking a declaration that would have ended public funding for Catholic separate schools in Ontario.
Judge Myers noted that the “Supreme Court of Canada has determined the issues already. The issues raised in this application are not new. There has been no change in circumstances that fundamentally shifts the parameters of the legal debate.”
And as we also wrote and emphasized last week – even though GAJE is also suing the Government of Ontario to change its educational funding policies – there is no similarity between the GAJE lawsuit and that Havercroft/Sutton lawsuit.
The Havercroft/Sutton application sought to abolish funding for Catholic schools. GAJE’s application seeks to apply and extend the original purpose of the 1867 founding constitutional agreement – namely, to protect minorities – to other religious minorities as well. The differences between the two applications are patent and profound.
In asking the court to confer legal sanction to GAJE’s request to compel Ontario to extend educational funding to other minorities, GAJE will follow the two-step legal path outlined by Judge Myers in the Havercroft/Sutton decision. Judge Myers wrote: “There are two situations when a judge is free to reconsider a decision of a senior court. The first occurs when a new legal issue is raised that was not considered before. The second occurs when there has been a change in circumstances that fundamentally shift the parameters of the debate. See: Carter v. Canada (Attorney General)”.
GAJE hopes to demonstrate that new legal issues have indeed emerged since the Supreme Court ruled in 1996 (the Adler case) that Ontario’s refusal to also fund non-Catholic denominational schools was legal. In addition, GAJE will demonstrate that there has indeed been a significant change in the circumstances relating to independent school funding in Ontario and throughout Canada over the more than 27 years since the Adler decision.
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If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.
For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com
Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.
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Shabbat shalom
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)
January 27, 2023
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education 